Photonics4All app now available for download

21 Jan 2016

Educational and informative app and game from European Commission designed to promote photonics technologies.

Following the global success of the International Year of Light, a new mobile device “app” called Photonics4All is now available to download to phones and mobile devices. Photonics4All is dedicated to explaining the role of photonics technology in everyday life and promoting photonics and its multitude of applications to young people, the general public and entrepreneurs.

The app originates in a European Outreach project of the same name, which is funded by the European Commission to push photonics across Europe. Other tools developed by the project include an online game and an animated video explaining photonics. The project has also been organizing special events for each target group, including a start-up challenge, activities aimed at children and universitiy-level students. So-called “science slams” aim to make photonics more widely understood and popular.

The app contains five different color-coded modules, which offer a palette of different photonics themes, including the following:

1. Basics concepts

This module explains the fundamentals aspects of light. It focuses on exploring the nature of light and studying how we can control light. In this module, certain fundamentals tools used in the optics and photonics worlds – such as lenses, mirrors and lasers – are introduced and escribed.

2. ICT applications

Considering that high-speed Internet is now available in every European city (depending on its definition), understanding how it works can be a challenge. This technology, with photonics at its heart, has developed rapidly thanks to the optical fiber. This module explains why this method is being used worldwide and how people can access to these services at home.

3. Energy, lighting and display

With a focus on the sustainable environment, green photonics is a key technology with the potential to cut global emission of carbon dioxide and reduce pollution. So-called green photonics includes photovoltaic energy generation, high-efficiency solid state lighting, and LED and OLED technologies for display. This module will focus on exploring the usage of photonics in those different areas.

4. Security, monitoring and sensing

The developers of the app say that people want to feel secure when they go into public places. Therefore, deployment of sensors and monitoring devices plays an increasingly important role in the public environment as these photonics-heavy technologies enable the detection of potential dangers at an early stage. This module will focus on exploring the usage of photonics in security.

5. Health & Life Science

Today, photonics is also a unique enabling tool for healthcare and life science. For example, the microscope is one of the most powerful and versatile instruments in the biological research. But, more and more, the laser and sophisticated optical systems are used in diagnosis and treatment in ophthalmology, in dermatology and oncology, for examples. This module focuses on exploring the usage of photonics in those different areas.

Interested parties can access and download the Photonics4All App here.